Elected as president of the French badminton federation in December 2024, Franck Laurent succeeded Yohan Penel for four years. After a week of competition, he returned to the world championships organized by the Federation in Paris at Adidas Arena, Porte de la Chapelle (25 to 31 August). The opportunity to also take stock of the place occupied by badminton in France in this 2025 school year.
What assessment do you make of these Worlds played in Paris?
Franck Laurent
President of the Badminton Federation
We welcomed 55,000 people in total in the beautiful Adidas Arena case and, from Wednesday afternoon, it was complete until Sunday. We even had to refuse ticket requests. We had 200 international press accreditations and 63 countries broadcast the world championships. On the sporting level, 3 French in simple men reached the 8th finals and we won a bronze medal, the first in our history in mixed double (Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel), which crowns years of work.
Are the results up to your expectations?
We would like to change the color of the medal, of course, but the last French medal at Worlds dates back to 2009 with Hongyan Pi (Bronze), which arrived in France in 2003, and was rather from the Chinese sector while Delrue and Gicquel are pure products from our sector. So we’re happy. High performance works very well with us. Having 3 players in the world top 15, there is only China and we who can claim it.
As at the 2024 Olympic Games, there was no tricolor medal in single. What is missing from the French to get one?
The habit of evolving at this level of play. When we see Christo (Popov, 10e Mondial) against the Chinese number 1 in the world Shi yu qi (defeat 20-22, 21-13, 21-18), and Toma (Popov, 15e Mondial) against the world number 2 Danish Anders Antonsen (defeat 21-6, 20-22, 21-19), it is played out from 17 in the “money time” (“period which reports big”, in other words the last points where everything is played out-editor’s note).
The best in the world remain Zen at the end, they know that they are strong, powerful. So we have to work on this end of the set. We cannot say that Alex (Lanier, 7e) made a big match in 8e final against Chinese Weng Hong Yang (16e), he recognized it. But he was only 20 years old and there has never been a world champion below 22 years. Alex must work even more compared to the pressure in the really important phases. He was able to do it abroad by winning Japan open in Tokyo or by reaching semi-finals of the circuit …
Precisely he is reigning European champion … Is there such a big difference between the European Championships and the World Championships?
Yes, a big difference. If we look at the tops 15 in all male and female paintings, we find 2, 3, 4 Europeans maximum, the rest are Asians. I even believe that there are only Asians in double ladies … In Asia, there is a massification of the very high level. We, in Europe, have individual talents. We start to get out of players regularly of talent but China produces it twice as much as we do. Ditto for Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan…
In Asia, an 8 -year -old child knows that he can live from the badminton and therefore he can immediately project himself and dream of becoming Olympic champion because, if he has talent, he can continue. We are barely starting to cross this barrier.
Today, we have players who are starting to live, so young people can project themselves into this professional career. It is reassuring and it will allow us to unlock a certain number of young people who make a career choice, at some point, by deciding to stop the badminton to favor another professional activity in order to live better.
Why are French women?
The first French in simple is 75e global today. However, we put the same financial and human means on the simple lady as on the simple man. So there are questions to ask … I asked the national technical management to present a plan on female badminton to understand what are the brakes? I hope, that by the end of my mandate in 2028, we can access the world top 50.
After the 2024 OJ effect, do you expect a global effect for badminton?
After the Games, we experienced a 15 % increase in licensees (211,000 to 241,000 today). A sport that obtains an Olympic medal made between 5 and 8 % growth. We did not have a medal but we had media coverage via the Paralympic Games with Charles Noakes. His gold medal has brought people so much happiness. Besides, we also have natural growth. With these Worlds in Paris, it would be good that we pass the 250,000 licensee mark this season.
At the start of the school year, the government has decided to remove financial assistance from the Sport Pass for the youngest (6-13 years old). Will badminton suffer from it?
This is not the best decisions … Of our 241,000 licensees, only 10,000 use the Sport Pass. In basketball, these are more than 100,000 users … For them, it will be more painful. This decision was made to put a little more money on the 14-18 year olds, which make a little less sport, taking it at 6-13 years.
It is a blow of communicating vases and it is not a good decision because we are faced with two phenomena: the overweight of young people and the time spent in front of the screens. Taking a license in a club means finding yourself in an environment that also allows a number of education.
We know that you have to put young people very early in a club so that they get used to it and take a liking to sport, not to mention the positive health effects … A study showed that 1 euro invested in sport, it’s 13 euros in savings for society. It is better to build a gymnasium, it costs less than paying police officers … It’s a much better choice.
Does badminton develop in priority districts?
This is an axis on which we work to develop practice in neighborhoods. Schools have to open the gymnasiums to us. We must also build 10,000 additional “bad” land because, with 20,000 throughout France, we arrive at saturation.
Our head office is in Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis) and we need to grow. We are therefore thinking of building the Bad house in Tremblay-en-France (Seine-Saint-Denis) which would offer a number of services, including a gymnasium and 9 land open to practice. We have to go to the territories, where there is youth and dynamism.
Where are you in terms of parity in terms of federation’s ruling bodies?
With regard to the Executive Committee, parity is respected, as required by law. We have been joint since 2020 when the law dates from March 2022 and fixed the application at the end of 2024. We are already joint on metropolitan leagues. On the other hand, if we look at the overall figures, the leaders represent only 20 % while our federation is 37 % of practitioners. So there is a small gap … But 37 % of practitioners, it’s a lot if we compare to other racket sports because table tennis is 14 % women and tennis 33 %.
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